What a nice find! I remember taking a look at the cover and not knowing what to think. After all, you have a typical computer generated cover with a typical logo etc. with a promo sticker saying that they are influenced by the typical bands and draw inspiration from typical themes.

Typical.

Then I put Subhuman’s Profondo Rozzo in my car cd player. It starts out fair enough with some fun death thrash. That’s good, as I was expecting straight thrash and I don’t know if my head can take another Warbringer or anything else resembling a Slayer clone.

Wait a minute… this part might be a breakdown… I hate breakdowns…. Oh… Ok, so that really wasn’t much of a breakdown. It was more like a period of rest. Hmm, I dig this. If the rest of the album is like this then it could probably get a 70 or so on Metalreviews. Nothing special, but good enough to play in the car with the windows down during a hot Phoenix afternoon.

Wait a minute… each song is getting less thrash. In fact… the album is progressing? Black metal elements like blast beats? Wtf? Where did this come from? And when did the singer start having this kind of range? Did I just simply not notice it and spaced out during the last songs or am I going insane.

Hmm… the album is only 35 minutes long. I have been saying for years that unless you plan on being Metallica or Megadeth, a half hour is the perfect length for a thrash album. It gets the message across and never comes off of preachy or self indulgent.

I think I’ll have to listen to this again. That way I can REALLY get a good look at it. Ooo… the productions really nice. Wait, is the drummer playing without triggers? That’s a relief, everyone seems to be playing with triggers now. You know what? I think I like this. I’ll listen to it again!

I have probably listened to the entire album about a dozen times since last week and each time I thought it was catchy, well constructed, and sounded fresh and new while still bringing me back to classic bands and sounds. The band is tight, heavy, fast, and only occasionally strides into that dangerous almost like Lamb of God territory. And even then, by the time that you notice it, it starts to kick ass again.

Subhuman are a band that I had no expectations for and will definitely be keeping an eye out for in the next few years. They are easily better than 90 percent of the modern thrash movement and I would take this way ahead of the barrage of tech death bands that have no interest in soul or dynamics. Profondo Rozzo keeps things rolling and it will be staying in my cd player for a long time. It might not be a classic, but I would be very surprised if I got tired of it soon.

Oh yeah, all of the lyrics are in Italian by the way.